Through Beggar's Canyon
by Jedi Sapphire
Summary: One-shot. Luke and Obi-Wan on Tatooine, latent potential and hints of Anakin. Please R&R. Replies to Reviews added.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: George Lucas owns it all, although I wish I did.  
  
Obi-Wan Kenobi poked his head into the kitchen of the Lars homestead.  
Luke Skywalker was hunched at the table, tinkering with some  
mechanical contraption. Then he went back to his conversation with  
Owen Lars.  
  
Ostensibly, Obi-Wan had visited the Lars Moisture Farm to talk to  
Owen. What he really wanted was to see Luke. The boy was sixteen now,  
and every time the old Jedi saw him he felt a mad urge to tell him  
everything and start his Padawan training. But now was not the time.  
  
If Owen had his way, that time would never come. He was a good man,  
but he had never approved of the Jedi, and the very idea of Luke  
becoming one revolted him. Owen's wife, Beru, was far more  
understanding. She knew how seriously Obi-Wan took his charge, that he  
considered a sacred trust. Luke was the last hope of the Jedi Order  
and of the galaxy.  
  
As for Luke himself. well, all the kids of the area were a little bit  
afraid of old hermit Ben and his mysterious ways, but Luke wasn't.  
They weren't the best of friends, but they got along fairly well.  
  
He wanted a private conversation with Luke, but he wasn't sure how he  
was going to manage that. Owen would not like the idea. As it was, he  
lived in agony because Jabba the Hutt kept telling Owen to let Luke  
participate in the Boonta Eve podraces. That was how Luke's father,  
Anakin Skywalker, had taken his first step to being a Jedi and Owen  
was not letting Luke go in that direction.  
  
At that moment, Luke appeared in the doorway. It was dusk, and in the  
faint light of the twin sunset he was the living image of Anakin.  
smaller-built, but in every other way he looked exactly like his  
father.  
  
Obi-Wan saw his chance, and seized it.  
  
"Luke, it's getting dark outside. I didn't realize it was so late.  
Would you mind taking me home in your speeder?"  
  
"Sure," Luke said. He even sounded like Anakin. Owen started to  
protest, but Beru glared at him and he fell silent.  
  
"So," Luke said, as they got into his little speeder. "What route will  
it be? Want to go by Beggar's Canyon?"  
  
"Actually, I've never flown Beggar's Canyon."  
  
"What! Never? I'll take you that way. I've made some modifications to  
the speeder and she can fly the canyon. You'll love it."  
  
Obi-Wan had never flown Beggar's Canyon, but he had seen it and he had  
heard about it. And from what he had seen and heard, only suicidal  
lunatics flew Beggar's Canyon. And even they did it in daylight, on  
swoops or in skyhoppers.  
  
"Don't you think we should try that some other day, when it's  
brighter?"  
  
"Hey, no problem. I can fly Beggar's Canyon with my eyes closed."  
  
Obi-Wan resigned himself to his fate. If he were alive at the end of  
this he would know that Luke was as strong in the Force as he would  
ever need to be.  
  
He would have preferred to find out some other way.  
  
Luke veered around and gunned the engine. Obi-Wan was sure they had  
attained escape velocity. Only the son of Anakin Skywalker would even  
consider flying the canyon at that speed. And only the son of Anakin  
Skywalker could do it.  
  
The canyon came up and Luke pulled them up over it, then cut the  
engine. They dropped straight into the gorge, and Obi-Wan held tightly  
to his seat as the ground came up to meet them. Barely twenty feet  
left - surely Luke was going to do something?  
  
Luke's hands were on the controls, and they stopped a foot from the  
ground. Now they were skimming forward, still at a suicidal speed.  
  
Calm down, Obi-Wan told himself. Didn't Luke's father win the Boonta  
Eve podrace when he was nine years old?  
  
The thought was not particularly comforting.  
  
Something was coming up ahead of them now - a rock wall, with a two-  
meter-by-two-meter hole in it. Luke couldn't be planning to go through  
the hole! At this speed they would never -  
  
Before he could finish the thought, there was a flash of rock above  
him and they were through the gap.  
  
Luke tilted the nose of the craft down a bit, and they dropped even  
further. Now they were just a half-inch above the canyon floor. Obi-  
Wan could hear tiny pebbles brushing the bottom of the speeder.  
  
The twisting began here - now they were entering the really dangerous  
part. Luke whipped the craft around deadly turns and through narrow  
passages. Obi-Wan just hoped that it would end soon.  
  
He had often seen the kids flying the canyon. He had never seen anyone  
fly at this speed, and never with this much assurance. No wonder Jabba  
thought Luke would make a good podracer - if they could make a pod his  
size he would be incredible, maybe even better than Anakin had been.  
  
And now another rock wall was coming up - and this one didn't have a  
way through it. Luke did nothing until the nose of the craft was  
almost touching the wall, and then suddenly they were vertical,  
soaring up against gravity and skimming the side of the canyon.  
  
He had always hated it when Anakin did things like that.  
  
Over the wall and then the nose pointed down again. They were hurtling  
diagonally down at a speed of which Obi-Wan had never imagined a  
landspeeder was capable. This time Luke touched the controls while  
they were still fairly high, and they flew in a smooth curve,  
horizontal again at the end of it.  
  
More hair-raising turns, and finally Luke took them up again. Obi-Wan  
had shut his eyes long ago. He didn't want to watch.  
  
Luke left the canyon and increased their speed even more - and then  
suddenly they stopped.  
  
Obi-Wan opened his eyes cautiously, and saw the Dune Sea behind them  
and his hut in front.  
  
"Nice flying," he commented. 


	2. Replies to Reviews

I'm sorry if you opened this thinking it was another chapter; I thought I ought to respond to everyone who was kind enough to review. This seemed a better way to do it than email.  
  
obaona: I'm very happy you liked the fic. I felt sorry for Obi-Wan, too; I always think of him as being a little too mild-mannered for his own good.  
  
Jedikma: Thanks a lot. I'll try to write more in the future.  
  
Nubian Queen: I love pre-ANH fics myself, these and ones about Luke and Vader set between ESB and ROTJ (maybe I'll try one of those next). I'm sorry you didn't like the end, though.  
  
kyer: That's a good idea; thanks. When I have time I might go back and change the end.  
  
PrincessSkywalkerOrgana: Thanks for reading and reviewing. I guess the fic is a little sad if you think about it. 


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